We took Teddy to visit the OSU vet hospital last Thursday because he was having an issue with his incision. It turned out to be a type of staph infection, which should be cleared up with some antibiotics. They also removed all but 4 of his staples, leaving them in where the infected area is. He was also outfitted with a nifty little stretchy net "shirt" which securely holds gauze pads in place over the seeping infection. Not only does it look adorable (my opinion), it works much better than the cast-off t-shirts of Art's that we were using, as they caught the seepage, but they also probably distributed oozing staph all over the house. So, good call on the stretch fabric! His new duds also show off his new svelte post-mass shape.

We also learned what kind of cancer caused that giant mass. It was not hemangiosarcoma, which was predicted to be the problem because it is so commonly found on the spleen, in dogs of a certain age, and in Golden Retrievers. It turned out to be myxosarcoma, which is apparently very unusual to find on the spleen. We won't know how this diagnosis applies to Teddy's case until we meet with the oncology department on Tuesday, but you just know I had to look it up online. From what I can gather, it seems like this puts Teddy in a better position than having hemangiosarcoma. Now it's more like, "we got it out, and we'll consider some follow up treatment," as opposed to "get your affairs in order and enjoy the next 90 days." So, we are cautiously optimistic, and we are looking forward to learning more on Tuesday. One thing is for certain: You can never trust cancer.

I suppose our goal remains the same: to make each day really special, and to make him feel loved all the time. That's always our goal, with or without cancer!

We feel fortunate that it doesn't seem as devastating as it could be. Unfortunately, we know of someone who recently received the other kind of news about his cancer. It is hard to celebrate our cancer "victory" (I'm not sure that is the correct term) while he struggles on. He is a child from our church community, and he has been fighting his battle for years (and he's only 6 or 7 years old.) Despite the non-stop efforts of he and his family, his news was of the devastating variety, and it is heartbreaking.

I know that Teddy would change places with him if such a thing were possible.